Grandeur
Grandeur is an elderly female RainWing and was one of the six queens that took turns ruling the tribe before Queen Glory challenged them and won the throne of the RainWings. She is the only one out of the six that has actually descended from the original line of RainWing queens and is one of three known descendants. She is related to Queen Glory and Prince Jambu, as well as her three unnamed daughters that Grandeur said were "useless" for ruling, whom are also descended from royalty. Grandeur was not the current RainWing Queen during The Hidden Kingdom. Glory describes Grandeur as being the only RainWing queen who acted royal, as she seemed regal and emitted a queenly aura. Kinkajou told Glory that Grandeur only held audience with her subjects once a week for an hour. She is very old, but her numerical age has not yet been revealed. She may have been seen in Winter Turning, when Icicle is taken prisoner by the RainWings. Appearance During the Royal RainWing Challenge, Grandeur was described as a pale lavender. Her ruff was an indignant pale orange and her scales glittered like tiny dewdrops1. She had eyes that looked half-asleep, and she wore a sour expression. Glory mentioned that she was the only one of the RainWing queens that gave off a queenly aura. Biography The Hidden Kingdom During the contest to determine the queen, Grandeur participated in the venom accuracy test. She was one of the only two RainWing queens who did not attempt to cheat during her event (the other was Fruit Bat), as she was sure she would win, and was truthful. Towards the end of the venom targeting, a sloth tumbled out of the trees and in front of the target board. Kinkajou dove forward to push it out of the way, but Ex-Queen Grandeur's venom accidentally hit the young dragonet's wing. Glory quickly did a venom test on a leaf with the queen to see if she could save Kinkajou. When the venom matched, Glory used her venom to counteract Ex-Queen Grandeur's. After realizing that Glory was a descendant from the line of ancient RainWing queens, Grandeur forfeited, allowing Kinkajou to be awarded victory in the venom spitting event and for Glory to become queen. She believed in the royal family, which the RainWings had abolished many years ago, saying "We don't do families". In addition, she later told the other queens that Glory would indeed be a better queen than any of them, not caring what their opinions were. She told them she had only allowed them to be queen in hopes that one of them would be worthy - which they were not. The Dark Secret When Starflight dreamvisited Kinkajou, Grandeur was watching her. Grandeur was one of the few RainWings that actually acted like the other dragon tribes (not giggly and foolish) under stress. She was close to Glory (who trusts her with much responsibility) and a big help in activities of importance such as battle planning. Grandeur and Liana were usually working together in Glory's command. Grandeur helpfully freed the RainWings using a spear during the attack on the NightWings. The Brightest Night Grandeur helped Glory organize the NightWings when they sought refuge in the rainforest. She and Mangrove were later left in charge of the rainforest while Glory attended the peace summit at Burn's Stronghold. Quotes "I know she'll be a better queen than you." - To Magnificent "Behold! Your new queen! Queen Glory of the RainWings!" - Introducing Glory as the new queen of the RainWings. "I forfeit. Kinkajou wins." - In The Hidden Kingdom after Kinkajou is injured. "It's my throne anyway. I have merely tolerated all of you on it because I thought experience might transform you into worthy queens." - Talking to the (now) ex-queens. "I do, because it means that you are descended from the original line of RainWing queens, and so I am not the last one worthy of the throne after all." "I don't know! I haven't had any eggs in decades. I haven't tried matching venom with anyone in so long. I don't think there's anyone related to me anymore." "We used to keep track of the royal eggs, but my daughters were useless, so we merged our eggs with the tribe's, hoping to find successors who were queens in spirit, if not blood. There were a few who might have been great if they'd ever tried for the throne, but the truth is, I've never found a dragonet who both wanted to be queen and deserved to be. Until now." ''- To Queen Glory ''"Listen! Your new queen is speaking!" - To the NightWings. "I remember when we actually ''needed ''our camouflage, to protect ourselves from invading dragons. It wasn't a game back then. It was what we had to do to survive." "I remember when we used to use our camouflage to hide from our enemies." "I could do it. Attack another dragon with my venom, I mean, for the sake of my tribe. But I agree, the others would have trouble." Trivia * Prior to The Hidden Kingdom, it was stated to have been a long time since Grandeur had dragonets, which may indicate that dragons can grow too old to have offspring. * Grandeur is, by far, the oldest of the queens. * She is one of the oldest RainWings, too, though Tapir or Handsome might be older. * She is old enough to remember when RainWings actually had to use their camouflage and venom on other dragons. This probably means other tribes used to attack the RainWings for land. * It also shows that the RainWing abandonment of traditional kingdom priorities and families weren't too long ago. * Grandeur is shown in the books to have a color preference to light purple or silver. * Grandeur is the noun form of grand. * She is one of the oldest named dragons in the series. * She is the Grandmother of Queen Glory and Prince Jambu Category:The Hidden Kingdom Category:The Hidden Kingdom Characters Category:Characters Category:Females Category:Queens Category:RainWings